ONE MORE SLICE

Fruitcake is the Norwegian progressive group led by Paul Sovik, who drums, composes most of the songs and sings. On the previous album 'Room For Suprises' the band finally made a fully professional album full of slow paced melancholy organ-driven prog. It's a personal favorite of mine.

On 'One More Slice' the band sounds significantly more 'heavy prog' with numerous axe-man lead guitar passages and riffs by Robert Hauge. The compositions are faster, intenser, more varied and way less moody and lonely sounding. The organ chords and lead synth are less dominant, but still present in classic Fruitcake fashion; retro (or dated in a charming way) and slightly dopey. As if they never heard another song than Genesis' 'Watcher of the Skies'. It makes them stand out and instantly recognizable. I described Fruitcake earlier as progressive rock's favorite slug, but on this album the band is actually quite versatile within its own idiom. Notably, on 'One More Slice' the band also has some really dark organ/guitar riffs, that almost remind of Red-era King Crimson.

Fruitcake has always had as its main weakness the dopey and occasional weak vocals of Paul Sovik. And though is voice grew significantly over the years, he also tried to tackle harder vocal lines - which in turn leads to equally average results. In the slower organ-based compositions of 'Room For Suprises' his performance was actually way more charming than in this heavy prog climate. Still, I would warmly recommend this record swarming of full bodied organ/guitar potency and beautiful harmonies and melodies. The recording sound is strong as well.